The charity Jewish Care has taken over a residential home in Hertsmere.

Jewish Care has bought the 72-bed Princess Alexandra Home in Bushey, and will improve facilities at the home over the next few years.

It also plans to use the facility as a base for its services for elderly or disadvantaged Jewish people in the borough.

The home was originally built for people with masonic connections, but now only has 17 such residents. Non-Jewish residents will still be cared for at the home, and will be given access to services and facilities suitable to their faiths.

Angela Gibson, Jewish Care's assistant director of residential services, said: "There is a 40,000 strong Jewish community in the Hertsmere area, and we want to develop services for the community."

She said the charity needed extra volunteers to expand its activities in Hertsmere and south Hertfordshire, adding: "We are totally reliant on volunteers to provide our services."

Mrs Gibson said Jewish Care had been keen to purchase the home to cater for Hertsmere's growing Jewish population, and that rather than there being less spaces for non-Jewish residents, there were now more beds for a significant part of the population that had not been catered for before.

The home's previous operators, Middlesex Province, were forced to sell as a result of recent Government legislation, which said residential homes had to meet certain criteria to remain operational. The home would have cost too much for the trustees to renovate.